Woman found in child-rape suspect's yard honored at service

After more than a year of heartbreak, questions and tears, one family said their goodbyes Saturday afternoon to a daughter, sister, niece and friend.

KATIE KUSTURASTAFF WRITER

ORMOND BEACH — After more than a year of heartbreak, questions and tears, one family said their goodbyes Saturday afternoon to a daughter, sister, niece and friend. "It has been a long hard road," Ed Jandreau said at the memorial service for his niece, Chasity Danette Starr. "There's been so many people involved in this with Chasity that I just can't thank everybody. She would love you all for this. We're finally bringing her home." Jandreau has served as his family's rock since Starr, of Holly Hill, was reported missing on March 29, 2011. On June 28, 2012, Starr's remains were found in the backyard of child-rape suspect James Maxwell's Port Orange residence. She was 29. The Rev. Artie Rose led the service at Lohman Funeral Home in Ormond Beach. "It was a tragedy that happened, very tragic," Rose said. "Words cannot explain what I think in my heart about some people." Rose led family and friends in a prayer and asked God that the tragedy pull the family together. Members of Starr's family also asked that they let this bring them together. "We all need to pull together," Brenda Butler, one of Starr's aunts, said through tears. "I don't want to go through this again, and I know nobody in this family wants to go through this again." Starr's mother, Candy, said her daughter, whose favorite color was purple, was a lover of life. "We used to go tubin' every weekend," Candy said. "She loved to camp. Juniper Springs was one of our favorite places to go." Candy also remembered how clumsy her daughter could be. Starr's friend and mentor, Daniel Fisher, didn't see her clumsiness as an issue when she helped him take his neighbor to the hospital. "I get the emergency room at Halifax, and I didn't even get the car parked good yet, and she'd jumped out and ran for the emergency room," Fisher said. "She ran in there and she grabbed a wheelchair for him so he wouldn't have to walk. She was very caring and nurturing like that." Maxwell, who is charged with killing Starr and Pamela Sue Will, both of whom had arrest records for prostitution, will go to trial in December on two charges of first-degree murder. He also faces charges that he kidnapped and raped a 9-year-old neighbor in December 2011 after a holiday party.